Friday, October 28, 2016

"ETERNAL/BENEATH" A Solo Exhibition by Jason Vivona presented by SP Projects at The Convent

SP Projects is pleased to present "ETERNAL/BENEATH" A Solo Exhibition by Jason Vivona.

Jason Vivona creates a dream-like world with his sewn paper collages. While travelling, Vivona fills sheets of paper with surreal drawings of anthropomorphic animal human hybrids, text, climbing ferns, and his own symbolic language. When he returns to his studio, he cuts up and layers his ink drawings, mixing in abstract expressionist color fields to create cohesive compilations with his sewing machines.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

‘Powders’ is a primal audible mental and psychical exorcism that
feels so raw and is quite possibly my favourite track of 2016. It tears at the
chest and elicits an almost interactive response of the listener.The pain, the frustration, the anger is
transferred. I felt uncomfortable.“Indifferent Rivers Romance End” is an
unflinching crescendo in W&R’s discography. How long was this album in the
making and what makes this album stand out from your previous releases?

Ignat Frege: We’ve been working on the
album since the 16th century. It was starting to get unreasonable.
We actually invented computers to write our music, using horsehair for wires. A
highly conductive material, little known.

Felix Skinner: The lyrics to “Powders” came
to me in a dream as they themselves were conjured in a dream beheld by my
ancient fore bearers. The words, nonsensical to them in their semi-evolved
pre-lingual pitiful condition were but a series of grunts and howls, etched into
cave walls. We are but a conduit for these words, as meaningless now as they
were then.

Have you both sat down and listened to the album from start to
finish since finishing it? Or is that something that gets left behind as you
move towards the experimentation and evolution of the live performance of the
album?

F: It’s fairly well known now that the CIA
uses certain songs, played at blaring volumes in maddening repetition, to wear
down the spirit of those they have selected for torture and rendition. The
Barney theme song, Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, and every song ever recorded by
Wavves are all well known examples. Our album was actually funded in full by
the CIA to add to this arsenal and is therefore not recommended for civilian
consumption.

I: I am sorry to anyone that has listened
to the album from start to finish. Sorry!

courtesy of invisibleoranges.com

What is evident from start to finish – is the importance of the
dynamic between the both of you. The vocal carnage is carried along beautifully
by Ignat’s drumming and similarly shaped by the synths and sounds orchestrated
by Felix.Can you explain the
relationship between you and how the interaction shapes both the creation
process and the live performance?

F: We’ve been close friends for a long
time, so long in fact that we share a hive mind, but you know, not technically
a hive because there’s only two of us. Some kind of sick, conjoined, chimera
consciousness.

I: Felix and I are very close. He lets me
pet his cat, it’s really fluffy to where it looks like they should feed it
less. But they don’t feed it very much. I saw them feed it so I don’t really
worry about that anymore. I do worry when it rips the shit out of my hand when
I try to pet it.

F: I cannot say enough good things about my
cat, she is wonderful and at a healthy weight.

Often when reading anything about you guys the word “Post-metal” is
used which to be honest makes me vomit slightly in my mouth. There seems to be
an incessant need in the music industry to try and cram something into a genre
or label.If anything at all, how would
you describe your music?

F: Ok, here we go. I think in general genre
is a reductionist ploy for conformity and suffocation. That being said, one can
easily recognize the utility of genre to both criticism and capitalism. So long
as it’s sincere and intelligent (which it rarely is), criticism can be good and
genre can be used as a helpful relational construct to situate art in a larger
context, stimulate community building, etc.. In the capitalist setting,
however, genre is generally slapped upon the art without or against its will in
order to commodify, market, and monetize. To me, that’s when the vomit really
starts flowing.

When someone listens to W&R whether live or on record what do
you want them to walk away with? Or is this something you don’t even consider
but rather is a byproduct of your catharsis?

F: I try hard not to consider the audience
when writing or performing (a foolish position, probably). I would really
prefer not to have any responsibility over how anyone digests the things we
create. If someone does insist on getting something from the music though, I
suppose I’m glad, although now that I think about it we should probably start
making everyone at our shows sign waivers. We’ll have to consult our legal
team.

I: Really sorry! If you want a refund text
me!

Lyrically, the new album feels evolved and sharper. Would you agree?
And what comes first- lyrics or music? Or is something that sparks back and
forth?

F: For me, both music and lyrics are best
when they come over unplanned and uninvited, sometimes with each other,
sometimes months apart. There’s always extensive editing on both though. Write
drunk, edit hungover, etc.

I: It’s way sharper sonically. The boss
Samur behind the faders did his magic. You can text him if you want, I have his
number. He has this crazy plug in where it makes the reverb go away. Literally
every track on our record has that one. It took seven servers at Facebook
working around the clock to export each track. We are in a lot of debt now. It
was crazy.

Hurt is something you
definitely feel when listening to the new album.What are the major lyrical themes throughout
the album? Would you say this album is very much a personal emotional work
rather than some 3rd person exploration of emotion?

F: There’s a little bit of both. Others
reflect the self and vice versa (forever lost in a hall of mirrors).
Imagination, dreams, lies, etc. allow us to experience multiple realities, we
are able to simulate others’ experiences, relate them to ourselves. There’s a
lot of hurt out there and no one wants to own up to it (especially not in
America). I wouldn’t claim to express an experience or feeling outside my own
but I think you have to be really numb or have the blinders on tight to look
around you and not be affected by the suffering that populates the world.

Amidst what some may see as a dark project it’s also clear music
aside the black dark humor of W&R is ever present. Your twitter account is
one of my favorite daily reads.In an
industry that prides itself of taking itself too seriously how important is it
to take the piss every now and again and shake the ego down from the trees?

F: Absurdity is one of the primary flavors
of existence and I think you’re right that the music industry is over saturated
with it. If you’re taking yourself seriously you’re either trying too hard to
become financially soluble in a system that’s gamed against you realizing that
dream long term, or you have some serious psychological issues that you should
probably seek treatment for.

What are W&R listening to right now and what/where do you draw
your own musical influences from?

F: Top records of the year for me are
probably Jenny Hval and Anohni. For most of my day, I’m typically listening to
a lot of ambient and minimal electronic music, the more pretentious and
experimental the better.

I: I like Jenny Hval a lot. I heard the new
one and was like why are we making this dumb music with screaming in it?

What does the rest of 2016
hold for Wreck and Reference and are we likely to see you guys tour outside the
US anytime soon?

F: We’ll hopefully do a few more shows this
year if the right opportunities presents themselves, but our focus now is
writing new and radically different music. We’d love to get out of the US again
as soon as possible though, perhaps next summer.

I: I want to play Berlin again and go to
Berghain because I heard it rules. If you’re reading this please let us in!

Monday, October 24, 2016

Uniform are old friends Ben Greenberg (ex-The Men, Hubble, and the producer/engineer responsible for much of the Sacred Bones catalog) and Michael Berdan (ex Drunkdriver, York Factory Complaint) and formed in New York City in 2013.

Ghosthouse shares a basic configuration with the previous Uniform releases, but the tools have evolved far beyond their initial drum machine and bass synth setup. These songs have grown from a broader palette of sounds - shots, explosions, implosions, impacts, ricochets, collapse; the sounds of conflict, war, and destruction that we witness every day. The three songs on Ghosthouse show the incisiveness that Greenberg and Berdan now have at their command. The result is the most sonically confrontational Uniform material to date.

Formed in Brighton in 2013, FVNERALS have since recorded two great EPs and an album of darkly negative, doomy shoegaze; a noir sounding world, complete with drones, and echo-y, smoky vocals, weighty with sorrow. This enveloping heaviness is created as much by the sparse arrangements, as the sometimes crashing guitars. It is full of moodiness.

Relocating to Glasgow, the trio of guitar, synth and drums have now recorded a new album, Wounds, available this month.

Photo: Ajit Dutta

Joining FVNERALS on tour are Dystopian Future Movies from Nottingham, who have currently released two EPs of heavy post-rock. Taking a more metal approach to the genre, they combine haunting vocals with occasionally crushing metal riffs.

Opening tonight are local band Age Decay. Formerly a solo project, with an album in 2014, this now full band produce what they call, 'doom-flecked, blackened downer rock’ for your delectation.

Inbetween sets bathe your ears with the weirdest techno that Organchrist can drum-up.

Anu Tera

Jesse Draxler

Morph Knitwear

burialground

Haute Macabre

Born a Bad Seed

Souvenir Jewelry

Little Whip

THE LAIR

FAST TIMES SKATEBOARDING

Sugarhigh + Lovestoned

Sticks and Stones

STEAKTOOTH

Sacred Bones

DAIS RECORDS

instruments of discipline

Cleopatra Records

NOT JUST RELIGIOUS MUSIC

[aufnahme + wiedergabe]

Felte Records

AVANT! RECORDS

THE FLENSER

MOUNT ANALOG

Tamara Santibanez

Johnny Gloom

Darla Teagarden

Aunia Kahn

Muted Fawn

Chapel Tattoo

Inked Mag

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